Delayed, frozen and bribed aboard a tardy little plane with no fizzy water

THE man from the Southern Health Board was good and mad.

This particular Southern Health Board man you do not want to draw on yourself when he’s incandescent, so although I know him, I kept my head down.

The location was an Aer Arann plane. On the tarmac at Dublin airport. Late for take-off. Aer Arann had apologised, saying the delay was due to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft. They didn’t say the incoming aircraft was late because of a tornado somewhere or the pilot’s alarm clock failing to go off, or the dog eating his flight plan. It was just late.